


Helping Hand

by Istrael



Category: Pokemon, Sense8
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 16:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10948653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Istrael/pseuds/Istrael
Summary: The August 8 cluster were not only born in the same instant, but they all started with the same species of partner Pokemon.





	1. Dragon Slayer

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic was written after the end of the original run of Season 2, when the series had not yet been canceled and the finale special had not yet been announced. As such, it has some continuity features which do not line up with the finale at all. I still like it for what it is, so I'm not going to retcon it; we can consider this an alternate continuity as follows: when the cluster targets BPO, they get Wolfgang AND Whispers during the same raid, and they systematically dismantle BPO piece by piece, rather than in one fell swoop with the participation of outside sensates.

Capheus has only just learned to walk, when a bedraggled Eevee walks into his home, looking for shade, water, nourishment. Shiro studiously ignores the little pokemon, waiting first to see how her tiny son will react, but she surreptitiously stirs more grain and beans into the porridge she is preparing for their supper. A smile blooms across Shiro's face as Capheus squats down and offers an open hand to the Eevee, which soon allows the child to pet him. 

After they all eat, the little boy and his new friend run outside to play with Jela and his Poochyena. They are dusty and exhausted when they come back inside, but their eyes are sparkling, and Shiro's Minccino runs up to them to brush them off before they settle down for sleep. 

A few years later, Eevee uses Charm to distract the neighbours while Shiro and Capheus flee their home for the second time. Then he uses Tackle to push back a pursuing Mankey, before racing to catch up with his partner. Eevee has never battled before, only played; the tiny victory grants enough experience to level up, and between one stride and the next, Sylveon is sprinting next to Capheus, his ribbons twined around Capheus' wrist.

After Capheus' birth as a sensate, he watches, removed from his body, as Sun Bak fights through him. He is surrounded by enemies, fanged monsters and brutal men who command them. Sun momentarily loses her sense of place, and she calls for a Roar from her Jolteon. Sylveon, doing his best, responds with Hyper Voice, a siren wail that knocks down the men attacking Capheus, along with the gang of Deino and Zweilous accompanying them. Silas Kabaka had arranged a meeting with a Move Tutor only a week earlier, and Capheus does not like to think very hard about what that appointment must have cost his benefactor... but right now Capheus is thankful for the powerful offensive move. 

When the fighting is over, Sun visits Capheus again in the quiet of his home.

"Your Sylveon has Pixillate." She sounds quietly impressed, but Capheus shakes his head without recognition. "It means Normal type moves like Hyper Voice are boosted by Sylveon's Fairy type powers. It is a Hidden Ability. It is very rare. Your Sylveon has a very high pedigree, to have such good stats, a hidden ability, and Charm as an egg move. You said he was a stray when you found him, though?"

"Probably a breedject," Nomi replies, appearing to Capheus' left. Capheus feels the soothing heat of her Flareon under her palm, contrasting the cool humidity of Bug's houseboat. "Some pokemon breeders throw away anything they think isn't perfect. I agree with Sun; your Sylveon has really high individual values, and he's Modest nature. It seems like the breeder was trying for a Shiny and didn't like what they got." Capheus can hear the anger in Nomi's voice, and it doesn't surprise him; she must empathise with the abandoned, rejected pokemon, whose only error was to be different from what was wanted and expected. 

Sylveon feels Nomi's tension radiating from Capheus' body, and soft ribbons wind around his wrists. Amanita's fingers lace through Nomi's and give them a squeeze, while she makes a cross remark about how people like that don't deserve to have children or Pokemon, either one. 

"Well," Capheus replies, "I like Sylveon exactly how he is. Pink is a wonderful colour, like the sky when the sun comes up."

"It feels almost deterministic," says Amanita, after Nomi relays Capheus' remarks. 

"What do you mean?" Capheus asks.

"Well... you and your mother don't have much money, right? You live in a place where evolutionary stones are lightyears away from being affordable, and Africa only has Grassy Rocks and Icy Rocks in places with mountains and lush jungles. Your Eevee only ever had the possibility of becoming an Espeon, an Umbreon, or a Sylveon, because all of them evolve through their bond with their trainer. Eevee was born with a Fairy type egg move, so he was basically guaranteed to become a Sylveon, wasn't he? You never got to make that decision together. Most Eevee trainers think long and hard about it before evolving their partner Eevees. It's not like we can turn back time, but... is Sylveon happy he's a Sylveon?" 

Capheus passes the question along to his partner, who tilts his head quizzically, before singing a chiming affirmative sound. Pink glitter scatters around them.

"I don't think he put much thought to it," Capheus tells Amanita through Nomi, "but he is happy to be himself, because he is good and brave, stronger than dragons, and we have lived through everything together."

Lito appears behind Nomi, dabbing at his eyes and sniffling theatrically. "That is the most beautiful thing I have heard this week."


	2. Synchronize

Kala is laying down on her bed, staring at the ceiling, with Espeon dozing contentedly on her chest. 

"I wonder what he is doing," she murmurs. Espeon opens one eye, and his ears and forked tail twitch slightly. Kala heaves a dramatic sigh. "Oh, all right. I cannot stop worrying. Just don't tattle on me this time. Use Future Sight."

Espeon's forehead gem glows softly red, and his tail swishes lazily through the air, dowsing the currents of time until they lock onto Wolfgang's personal timeline. He took blockers an hour ago, and he has been beyond the cluster's reach as a result, but Psychic pokemon have their own ways of checking in, albeit far more limited than the psycellium. Kala peers deeply into Espeon's eyes, relaxing her mind into a meditative state that grants the pokemon access to show her what he is seeing. 

Over this distance, the image is hazy: Vaporeon's eyes are designed to see underwater, and they have poor focus and colour perception in air. Despite this, Kala recognises Wolfgang instantly, as his partner pokemon looks up at him expectantly for instructions. Suddenly, Vaporeon turns to face an opponent - something red and black. Houndoom. 

Kala hears Wolfgang direct Vaporeon to use Hydro Pump. She shakes her head quickly to break the psychic connection.

"Espeon, use Helping Hand, now! Vaporeon needs you." 

The catlike pokemon glows pale violet and shimmering red, transmitting a share of his energy and force of will into the distant Vaporeon. Once the attack is sent, Kala immerses herself again in the psychic gaze of her partner, watching the events as they are about to play out in reality, somewhere across London from the hotel room where she is currently hunkered down. 

The Hydro Pump carries the enemy Houndoom away, and Felix' Klefki zips forward, using Thief to pick the pockets of a BPO official discreetly. Klefki returns with an access card key, hurriedly hiding itself in the collar of Felix' shirt. Vaporeon throws a wall of Haze up between the team and the BPO security crew. Kala cheers their escape deeper into the building. She is still worried nearly out of her mind, but Espeon makes it more bearable.

Not long after learning each member of the cluster was partnered to a fully evolved former Eevee, each a different species of Eeveelution, Kala had discovered that her Espeon's psychic powers could connect the pokemon to each other, using Espeon himself as a central hub to direct their assisting moves and attacks. The pokemon can't share competences outside their physical abilities - Sun's Jolteon can't borrow Leaf Blade from Lito's Leafeon, for example - but status-affecting moves can be used by any member of the team on any of the others, especially Helping Hand, which all of the cluster's partner pokemon had known since hatching. 

Through Future Sight, Espeon can also remotely view the immediate futures of the cluster, through the eyes of their partner pokemon, a form of surveillance that bypasses the blocker medications safely and completely. Through Wish and Power Swap, Espeon also uniquely can help the entire team by remotely healing them and boosting their offensive powers. 

Kala knows she is not a warrior or a fighter in the way Sun, Wolfgang, and Will are. She hates the violence and adrenaline that fill the cluster's shared life, and she is glad to be able to occupy a more pacifistic, helpful role within the team, while staying bodily far from the center of danger. Wolfgang agrees that this is a good thing, because he doesn't want Kala in harm's way, any more than she wants to punch and kick and bite her enemies.

Espeon himself is not a fighter. He evolved not through combat, but through the liberal application of vitamins and candies, the best stat-boosting pharmaceuticals available to a knowledgeable chemist like Kala. Sometimes Kala still feels out of her depth with Pokemon; the rest of the cluster have all had their partners since childhood. He was given to her as a graduation gift when she received her degree at university; her family had pooled resources together to give Kala a loyal companion. Right now, though, Espeon is more than a companion; he is a way for Kala to help protect Wolfgang, while he fights to protect her by dismantling BPO. 

"Espeon, have Wish ready to use. They may need to heal soon."


	3. The Best Offense

Will Gorski reaches blindly through the dark for Umbreon, who requires no verbal prompting. In an instant, a piercing, nails-on-the-chalkboard shrieking carves its way into his mind like an ice pick directly to the basal ganglia. Will feels Whispers flinch at the irresistible loudness of Screech. 

Riley and Glaceon run into the room, covering their ears and cringing. 

"Whispers again?!" Riley shouts over the hideous, agonising noise. Will nods. Finally, Umbreon needs to stop for a breath, and Will quickly commands her to use Confuse Ray on him. He feels disorientation set in immediately, nauseating and violent. The room spins around him, and he dry-heaves into a nearby bucket that Glaceon pushes closer to him. He hallucinates, seeing Diego standing behind Riley to offer sympathetic teasing. That can't be right; Diego is in Chicago, not London. 

There's a full bath tub of water nearby. He climbs into it, wearing just his boxers. Chunks of ice float in the water around him, supplied by Glaceon. He forces himself to stay still in the water for several minutes, the cold unbearable, the blood vessels in his hands and feet contracting painfully. His heart rate spikes, and he's gasping for air. 

It's been several days since the cluster apprehended Whispers. Will doesn't know what Wolfgang has been doing to the man; he doesn't frankly want to know. He just knows that when the blockers wear off on both ends, Whispers desperately attempts to mentally flee his current predicament, into Will's mind. Every time this happens, Will puts himself through enough pain and disorientation to kick the Cannibal out of his head. Riley hates it, hates instructing Glaceon to keep the bathwater cold, hates watching the fury in Umbreon's expression every time she uses her attacks on her own partner. 

Umbreon is like Sylveon; she has a Hidden Ability: Inner Focus. Umbreon never flinches. Umbreon will do the hard thing, the painful thing, the necessary actions that keep the entire cluster safe from monsters like Whispers. Screech, Confuse Ray, these are what Will fondly calls "crowd control," nonlethal moves he formerly used on the beat to disperse gang activity. Will would never use them on somebody else, without knowing how they feel himself. He has practice enduring it. Helping Hand, that's another given: every cop needs a partner, and Diego's Tangela appreciates the support during arrests. Assurance... well, this is Will we're talking about. Deep down, he doesn't like hurting people, and he refuses to take the first shot if there's any chance an opponent will back down. Assurance doesn't hit very hard at all, if a suspect doesn't resist, but its power amps up in response to taking damage. Will used to have Umbreon use Pursuit instead of Assurance, but these days, Will is doing more fleeing than chasing. His priorities have adjusted, and so, accordingly, has his Umbreon's moveset. 

Will waits for the sense of Whispers' presence to fade, before he climbs out of the tub and accepts the heavy wool blanket Riley is handing him. 

"It's taking less time for him to leave, each time," Riley says, a tentative optimism in her voice. "Maybe he'll stop visiting you as he seeks relief?"

"Could be," Will replies, "or could be Wolfgang is just shortening the time intervals between doses of blockers. Hard to say. Have we heard from him at all?"

"I caught Kala watching the room through her Espeon's Future Sight, earlier. I can only assume she's been looking in on all of us-"

"-Except me," Will adds. Umbreon, as a Dark type pokemon, is not affected by Espeon's abilities at all, and is locked out of the near-cluster formed by the team's partners. "And that's a good thing; she doesn't need to see this. She has enough on her mind, with Wolfgang on the inside right now."

"I think she did see part of this, actually," Riley remarks. "I was practicing our performance moveset with Glaceon, and she had that spacey look she gets when Kala's Espeon is looking in on me, and then the Screech started up, and Kala stopped watching."

"Oh." Will rubs the bridge of his nose, trying and failing to ward off the headache that's setting in. "Well, uh, how's the practice going?" He sounds sheepish, and he can hear the other unblocked clustermates reminding him that it's not his sole responsibility to shield all of them from harm at his personal expense. Riley kindly doesn't add to the cascading voices; she's too close to Will to think she can change his mind about what needs to be done. It's his tactical planning that got them this far, and he's going to stick with that plan for as long as it keeps working.

"It's getting better. Celebrate is a real show-stopper with Normalium-Z equipped. That was a real find; thanks again, Lito."

The actor is visiting where Will and Riley can both see him.

"It is no problem, really. My fans have always showered me with gifts I could never use fully - mega stones, Z-stones, technical machines that Leafeon can't learn. Combining Celebrate with Aurora Veil is truly inspired, Riley; I just had to tell you how beautiful your display was during your practice. I am moved, truly." Lito places a hand over his heart, beaming at Riley. Like her, he understands there is only so much persuasion that can be leveled in Will's direction, before he stops listening. Lightening the mood with gentler discussion is more appropriate, he feels.

"Thank you so much, Lito!" Riley smiles affectionately at Lito, feeling the sincerity of his praise, and all the more gratified that it comes from a fellow artist and performer. 

"I only wish Hernando could see you. Someday you must visit us in Mexico City and show him this demonstration in person, along with your music." Lito turns to Will, concern flickering through his expression before he reins it in again. "Are you truly going to be okay? I trust these three to take care of you, but you still must let them do it. I know I am being an awful mess, when Sun has to tell me to let Hernando and Dani and Leafeon just look after me, and stop blocking their efforts. You don't need me to give you that talk, right? You know better."

Will nods. "I was actually just about to suggest we get some pizza. There's no better caretaking than Chicago-style deep dish, right?" He pulls up a memory to show Lito, of himself, Umbreon, and his father sitting around a kitchen table piled high with pizza boxes. It's a good memory, and Will is working hard to keep it a good memory, and not let his grief pollute the warmth of the image. 

"Right. How did you meet your Umbreon for the first time? I do not know that story," Lito says.

"Yeah, I wanna' hear this!" Riley sits cross-legged on the mattress, punching in a pizza order to be delivered to a pub the next block over, rather than to their current secure location.

"Well, there's really not much to tell," Will says. "There was an Eevee mill - you know the kind, breeders who churn out rare pokemon in large numbers and sell with a high price and a fake pedigree certificate to anybody willing to buy. My dad shut them down, and he managed to re-home all of the Eevees except this one. That's what he claimed, anyway. I think, if we're being honest here, that he just set one aside on purpose for me. We were never wealthy, and we never traveled, and my Eevee didn't have egg moves, so it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that he'd be an Espeon or an Umbreon. Eevee and I had a heart-to-heart about it, after the local Friendship Checker told me Eevee would evolve the next time she leveled up. I hadn't decided to be a cop yet, but..." Will trails off and glances down at his hands, blushing momentarily. "But I was still sorta' afraid of the dark, a little bit. And I wanted to overcome that, and Eevee wanted to help. So we'd already decided Umbreon was the way to go, because she'd be able to glow, and see at night when I can't, and Umbreon's available moves are really good for handling danger in nonlethal ways. It was maybe only a week after we decided this, that I got jumped on my walk home from school. A gang recognised me as Mike Gorski's son, and it was just me and Eevee against half a dozen older teens and their pokemon. Eevee and I got away at first thanks to Sand Attack and running like hell. One of them caught up to us while we were jumping the last fence into my back yard. All he had as a Duskull with nothing but Ghost type moves, and all I had was Eevee with only Normal type offensive moves. Our pokemon couldn't hurt each other, so it was just me and this kid slugging it out."

"Then what happened?" Lito is holding a tub of popcorn with melted marshmallows drizzled all over the kernels. He is rapt at Will's narrative.

"Then the bigger kid got me pinned and started choking me, and Eevee used Quick Attack to knock the kid off me. That put her over the experience curve, and she evolved into Umbreon and learned Pursuit and Confuse Ray. Pursuit defeated the Duskull. I could have told her to chase the kid down as he ran away, but I just wanted him to get the poor Duskull to a Pokemon Center, so I let it go. The timing was so perfect, though; the sun had only just dipped below the horizon, when Eevee took down the kid. Moments earlier, and she'd've been an Espeon instead, weak against ghosts. I'm glad this is how things turned out; we both got what we wanted."

"Did you ever get over being afraid of the dark?" Riley asks.

"Oh, yeah," Will replies, smiling fondly at his partner pokemon. "Now, the dark is afraid of us, instead."


	4. Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis

"Hernando, my love, does this utility belt make my thighs look asymmetrical?"

"Lito, your thighs are perfect, but why do you need an utility belt?"

"I want to look like a badass when I am helping Wolfgang question the Cannibal, but my face is going to be covered. If he is the 'bad cop,' then I am to play the 'worse cop,' to quote Wolfie."

"And your solution to that is to wear equipment that belongs in a Batman comic book?" Hernando glances at Lito's Leafeon, who is watching these proceedings with visible amusement in her amber eyes. Hernando winks at her and Dani. Dani's magnificent blue Florges is on the balcony, attempting to soak up the meager London sunlight. The Fairy pokemon turns toward Lito and sulks.

"I am so glad you understand," Lito beams at Hernando. He gestures to Leafeon. "You know what to do, my treasure. Light this place up for poor Florges!" 

Leafeon hops down from Dani's lap, does a languid stretch, and then starts glowing with a soft golden light. Within moments, the clouds overhead part, and a flawless sunbeam descends through the London fog to bathe the balcony and Florges, who perks up immediately. Florges returns the favour, using Grassy Terrain for Leafeon's benefit. Leafeon used to know Synthesis for self-healing purposes, but the more Lito relies on Wolfgang for combat support, the more he worries that Leafeon's beautiful but harmless moves are unfit for this more dangerous world in which they all now live. He replaced Baby-Doll Eyes and Synthesis with Swords Dance and Leaf Blade, turning his gentle artist pokemon into a worthy fighter. 

Leafeon was a gift at Lito's tenth birthday. The party was in a beautiful botanical garden with a Grassy Rock right in the center. His Mama brought him a sweet little Eevee and a Rare Candy to use while standing close to the rock. There was never any need to discuss the choice of evolution; Leafeon, like all Grass and Fairy pokemon, thrived gloriously in the enchanted oasis that is Mexico City, and having a pet pokemon of these types is considered a hallmark of life in that city, while more arid regions called for Ground and Rock pokemon who survive robustly during drought. As a child, Lito already understood that Eevee's best quality of life would be as a Grass type. In their adult life, Leafeon's Sunny Day was uniquely valuable on movie sets, where poor weather and bad lighting could cause shooting delays for weeks. 

Lito snaps out of his reminiscing to return to brooding over the increasingly violent state of his affairs, and how that is affecting Leafeon.

"Even Glaceon at least knows Blizzard," Sun says, visiting briefly in reaction to Lito's recurrent discomfort at changing up a moveset that hasn't been altered in nearly a decade. "She and Riley are performers, too, but it doesn't mean they have to be helpless."

Riley visits long enough to nod her agreement.

"You're right," Lito nods to Riley. "I just don't like asking this of Leafeon. She did not sign up to be a fighter."

"Neither did you," Daniela says. "Who's there? Is it Wolfgang? I need to thank him again for saving my butt."

"No, no," Lito says. "It's Sun. She's reminding me that art and fighting do not have to be... opposites. They can even include each other."

"Sun's here?" Hernando perks up immediately. The 'crying Korean woman' has talked Lito down from many a tantrum, and Hernando instinctively likes and trusts her. "Maybe she can tell you how to look more badass, if you're concerned about it."

"What kind of Pokeball does Leafeon use?" Sun asks. 

"A Premiere Ball," Lito replies. "Why?" 

"Keep it hidden, and wear a set of six Dusk Balls prominently on your utility belt. Wear duty boots instead of those loafers. Remove all jewelry except a wristwatch that looks fit for manual labour. Rub some dark make-up under your fingernails so your hands don't look so manicured. Mimic Wolfgang's body language. Your role this time is not 'hero,' but 'mercenary.' It is dirty, capitalistic, opportunistic, and raw. It is not romantic or noble. You are not a 'badass;' you are a bad man, and you don't mind inflicting suffering if you get paid well for it. Use your art to become this fighter I am describing. Combine the opposite halves, to make a whole image."

"Wow." Lito looks at Sun's spectral presence in awe. "You are good at this. I wish Hernando could hear everything you just said."

"I did," Hernando replies. "Sun used your voice to say it; she wasn't just visiting. I must second your 'wow.' Sun, that was incredible. Where did that come from?"

Sun is not the type to blush, so instead she offers a secretive smile. "I have been watching Capheas' Van Damme movies with him, since we are rooming together right now. It turns out Detective Mun also likes them, and Jolteon likes Detective Mun and his Absol, so I have been roped into movie nights. I think I am beginning to get a better feel for story archetypes and how they play off the kinds of visual stereotypes Will and Wolfgang use to assess dangerous people. I need to go now; they want to show me Lionheart."

"Thank you for your help," Hernando and Lito say simultaneously. Lito goes to his costume supplies suitcase and rummages around it until he finds the necessary Dusk Balls. He stares at them for several seconds before clipping them onto the utility belt.

"You know, those really do seem more intimidating," Dani says. "I'll get the make-up kit out and we can get to work on your hands."


	5. Guts

Nomi's parents are, in a word, affluent. They are also complete sons-of-bitches, to quote Wolfgang's opinion of the matter. That meant when she begged for a Fire Stone to evolve the Eeevee she received for her seventh birthday, she got it, but it came with strings attached. Big, competitive strings. Along with being forced to join the swim team in middle school, she also had to study competitive pokemon battling, including challenging gyms and earning badges. Her mother wouldn't accept any answer that didn't involve Nomi progressing to challenge the regional Pokemon League. Her father was more sympathetic, but he was hopeful his "son" would take up the family business as a lawyer, in the future, and he wanted to prove Nomi had the competitive spirit and raw determination and ingenuity needed to succeed in that most hostile of public service fields. 

As for Nomi, computers were always her passion, along with subverting authority. Flareon? Well, he was mostly just along for the ride, and whatever ride Nomi wanted to take, Flareon would come with her happily.

Flareon was there when Nomi was trapped in the hospital, helping Amanita start fires and secure their escape with well-timed Smog and Scary Face to keep security teams from following them too closely. 

Flareon was there at Teagan's wedding, quietly melting the rubber soles of Bendix' cheap wingtips, while looking innocent and adorable. 

Flareon was there when electricity arced through Nomi's spine, feeling Wolfgang's agony from thousands of miles away, and he watched helplessly as Nomi seized.

Flareon was there to capture Jonas Maliki, breaking down the door with Superpower. 

Right now, Bug's Joltik and Amanita's Shiinotic are curled up together, asleep in a London hotel room with a fast Internet connection. Flareon is watching them sleep, sharing the sight with Kala's Espeon. Five more pokeballs are tucked warmly against Flareon's tail fur: the rest of Nomi's competitive team. Metagross, the Porygon-Z she befriended after discovering it parasitising her desktop as a virus, the Xurkitree that her father paid top dollar for from some exotics supplier, the Alakazam who Teleports them all out of harm's way in an instant, the Audino who keeps her team healthy and listens for the approach of danger... they're all what Bug fondly calls "OP, overpowered," and these days, that's exactly what's needed. 

Flareon's the one opponents underestimate, because he's so small and cute. He's like his trainer: Adamant and devoted, a force of personality, purely authentic and true to self. He has the Guts to keep coming back and hitting harder. And harder. And hotter. Each Flare Blitz falls like a hammer blow, a volcanic strike powered by Nomi's loyalty. Each hit point of recoil damage just stokes the flames even higher, and they are relentless and unyielding in their pursuit of what is just, what is true.

Flareon has seen Nomi preyed upon, trapped, forced to hide herself. If Flareon is certain about anything at all, it is that his trainer will never need to hide again, once he gets done with the predators of this world. His single-minded focus reminds Nomi sometimes of Wolfgang in his protectiveness of Kala. Wolfgang has said something similar about his Vaporeon reminding him of Nomi: adaptable, clever, skilled at slipping between the cracks in a flawed system and exploiting it to her own advantage. Nomi wonders if the cluster's pokemon are all subtle reflections of the other members of the cluster. Sylveon's effortless joy is much like Riley's bright sincerity, Nomi thinks, and Glaceon's artistic grace and steady calm are like Sun, poised to fight or close a business contract. 

Nomi takes pause at the thought, though, this parallel between Wolfgang and her Flareon. The ruthlessness, the killer instinct, the casual immunity to guilt and shame, the thirst for independence and dominance.

If Flareon is anything like Wolfgang, then for one security team at BPO, underestimating Nomi Marks and her Flareon will be the last mistake they ever make.


	6. Last Resort

Sun's martial arts instructor gave her Jolteon, already evolved but still at level one, when she won her first and last national tournament at age eighteen. She continued her training, both as a fighter and a pokemon trainer, although she had to take her efforts underground, out of her father's watchful gaze. Jolteon already knew Thunderbolt from the beginning, thanks to a Technical Machine, but the young pokemon had not yet developed proper control of his electrical powers, and on many, many occasions, Sun was the unintended recipient of stray electrical discharges.

Sun is no stranger to electrocution, and these pathetic tasers mean nearly nothing to her, in terms of physical pain. She knows to ride it out, wait for the muscle spasms to subside, wait for an open opportunity. The rope, though... that will be a problem. The restraints on her hands, the danger in all directions... these are problems. The rope around her neck leaves the skin raw, and her lungs burn in the fight for air. Disoriented, she calls for a Roar to disperse these men attacking her in this dark room in the women's prison. 

Jolteon isn't here. Jolteon is safe with her teacher, where she left him. Sun is all out of moves; she has used everything at her disposal.

Min-Jung is here, though. Min-Jung is good at solving problems. Sun, delirious, is stuck calling for Last Resort, and Min-Jung is only too happy to oblige her.

They escape into the night, Capheus' driving is distilled perfection, and the night air feels crisp and free on Sun's face. 

Just a couple days later, Jolteon is in Sun's arms again, warm and prickly, crackling with energy and the eagerness to play, to run, to fight, to grant Sun her vengeance. 

A handful of days after that, Sun and Detective Mun are cooped up in a bed-and-breakfast in London, watching action flicks. Sun watches The Handmaiden with Nomi and Amanita, during a night when the two men are out of the room, walking together to pick up groceries to restock the tiny fridge. None of the cluster goes anywhere alone, these days, not even Sun and Wolfgang, not even Nomi and the spectacular arsenal that is Nomi's competitive pokemon team. They're using the "buddy system," Will calls it. Sun thinks that is endearingly innocent-sounding, when what they are really doing is trawling the streets for other sensates, making eye contact with every person they pass. So far, there have only been a few others snared by this method, but it's been enough to link them into the Archipelago via Capheus and Riley and Lito. 

Sun avoids this activity. She has enough people in her head; she does not need additional distractions when she is frequently the only one of them able to supply the kind of tight focus and situational awareness they need to survive. She is also just not as social as the others, in the first place. It is better, Sun believes, for the three friendliest members of the cluster to be their "face" toward the Archipelago and the wider sensate world.

Jolteon barks sharply, and Sun parts the window blinds. Mun is returning alone, apart from the elegant Mega-Absol at his side. This is unusual; Mun doesn't mega-evolve Absol outside a fight, yet Sun did not detect alarm from Capheus. Where is Capheus? 

Sun steps outside into the sideyard of the B'n'B. She marches up to Mun and addresses him curtly, Jolteon prickling with static next to her.

"Where is Capheus? I thought the plan was not to take blockers while finding others." 

"Capheus is with Will and Riley. They decided to visit a night club together, but they want to limit potential exposure to just Riley, in that setting. Capheus is the designated driver for the return home, and he'll be staying on blockers for the night. I think..." Mun glances down and blushes. "I believe Capheus, Will, and Riley are conspiring to give us alone time."

"Why should they do that?" Sun asks. Jolteon makes a snorting sound suspiciously similar to laughter. 

"Probably because he came all this way for you and threw his career under the bus," Nomi tells Sun, visiting from behind Mun. "Give the guy a chance."

"That is what I am doing, obviously," Sun replies to Nomi, "or I would have made it impossible to follow me here."

Mun blanches, realising the rather injurious potential implications of how Sun might have chosen to keep him safely in Korea. "Uh... who is that, and should I thank them for what sounds like defending me?"

"Nomi," Sun replies, "and you hardly need defending... unless you're looking for a rematch. Is that why your Absol is in her mega form? Or did you encounter trouble?"

"No, you had it right the first time, Miss Bak," Mun says. "If you feel like it, I mean. I was actually hoping for a footrace this time, instead of a fight. Absol can't compete with Jolteon for speed, but her mega form gains a serious speed boost... just enough to put them in the same overall class, after accounting for Natures. Absol is Hasty, while your Jolteon is Sassy. They're not really the ideal natures for their respective species, competitively- I can almost hear Nomi cringing from here-"

"He's not wrong," Nomi remarks.

"-But it means I can potentially match you in a running race, if you're willing to give me the chance to show you something I excel at. I was always a miserable fighter compared to you, no matter how much of myself I throw into it, but I was a four time medalist in national track and field competitions, and running is something I can do all day long."

Sun stares at Detective Mun blankly for a moment. "Is this some sort of offended masculinity issue of yours?"

Nomi laughs. "I will marry only she who defeats me in Scrabble, am I right?" 

"No, it's not like that!" Mun hastily backpedals. "I guess I just want to show you I'm not a liability to you and your people. Wherever you go, I can keep up, if you will let me. I mostly mean that metaphorically, but I want to use the literal method to demonstrate it." 

"Put the poor man out of his misery, already," Wolfgang and Nomi say at the same time. They turn and smile at each other, and for the first time in days, Wolfgang seems earnestly happy, and is not on blockers. 

"Very well," Sun says. "We will race from here to the London Eye."

"Thank you. Ground rules: we use the same route; no calling on your sensate mojo to take shortcuts that I don't know about, just because one of your cluster is familiar with London."

"Agreed," Sun replies. "Additionally, I will refrain from using Agility on Jolteon. That would be... unsportsmanlike." Sun smirks deviously at Jolteon, thinking of many unsportsmanlike things they could do right now, and deciding against all of them.

"What are the stakes? There should be stakes," Nomi says.

"Last one there does shots with Lito," Wolfgang says, through Sun's mouth, "and last pokemon there has to play lookout during our next BPO mission, instead of going inside."

"You've got a deal, Miss Bak," Mun answers, crouching at the starting line, Mega-Absol's angelic plumes folded back for a streamlined profile. Jolteon's quills lay flat, too, and Sun smiles to see her pokemon partner enjoying the prospect of this competition just as much as Mun and his partner. It isn't very often Jolteon gets to use his full speed just for the sake of running for fun. This is, of course, a useful exercise for all of them: they may need to run for their very lives, at any moment. The danger is real. The danger is Sun's element, though, and perhaps it is Mun's, as well. Why else would he choose a pokemon who legends describe as the first bringer of warnings against catastrophe? Mun, like Sun, needs this to feel alive. Every other aspect of his life is to facilitate the fact that, like Sun, he runs toward the sound of fighting, not away from it. 

And as Mun has pointed out, he is very good at running.


	7. Blue Lips, Dancing Lights

This club is off the chain. Sick. Outta' sight. Lit. Take your pick of adjectives; this is Riley's world, and it is alive in a symphony of sound and motion, with Riley Blue, DJ extraordinaire, right at the shouting, beating heart of it, her Glaceon casting streamers of Aurora Veil above the crowd, to pulse in time with the urgent, sensual beat Riley is creating. Capheus and Will are dancing together, taking turns leading and letting the rest of the cluster slip into and out of Will's body to savour this moment. Capheus is on blockers, staying focused in order to let Will have this rarest occasion to cut loose and have fun. Umbreon and Sylveon are up on the stage with Riley, dancing as well, Sylveon's ribbons waving sinuously, and Umbreon's yellow markings glowing and flashing like an equalizer display.

Riley Blue is a phenomenon, always was. Glaceon, as Eevee, was a childhood pet, the sole offspring of her father's own ever-singing Primarina and her late mother's unevolved Eevee. Riley and Eevee grew up together, and every loss Riley survived on a frozen Icelandic night, Eevee shared with her, evolving into Glaceon at the barren slab of Icy Rock where Riley tried to take shelter from the blizzard. Glaceon's evolution felt, at the time, like admitting defeat: what could an Ice type pokemon do to save Riley and her lost Luna from such incomprehensible cold? Glaceon felt hopeless, desperately wished to be Flareon instead. Their grief was shared. Their spiral into depression was shared. If pokemon were susceptible to human drug addictions, this, too, would have been shared between them, but eventually there came a strange day when a Chicago cop and his Umbreon stood, confused, in a decrepit and overgrown cathedral, and Riley looked out through his eyes and felt her frozen heart hum slowly, inexorably back to life. 

Riley's father doesn't know even half of what's going on, but he sees his daughter is healing, making music, fighting for something that is important to her. He doesn't know Will yet, but Riley is sure the two men would get along well. She is hopeful that her father may someday help Will heal the hole left in his heart by the recent loss of Michael Gorski, but she is not going to voice this tentative wish just yet. She needed the spark Will brought her, yes, but she also needed time to begin healing. Will, too, needs time, and a spark alone will not be enough to move him beyond the state of blaming himself for everything that has gone wrong in the past year.

So tonight Riley called for Capheus to play designated driver, to give Sun and Mun time to themselves, yes, but also to give Will time to be distracted harmlessly for awhile, and to give Riley an excuse to be the life of an incredible party again, after so long without the music that defines her very soul.

They all need this, she thinks. She reapplies the dark blue lipstick she borrowed from Amanita, during a break between sets, and she watches the crowd congeal and sprawl and undulate like a murmuration of starlings. She makes eye contact every chance she gets. She feels minds connect to hers, some of them frightened, some of them hopeful like she is. Some of these minds are very new, and a deeply-buried mothering instinct surges up into her throat, almost choking her with its intensity. She wants to protect them. She wants to take down BPO, for her cluster, but also for all of these new sensates who are only just discovering themselves, so close to the heart of danger. 

Riley feels feet slapping hard and fast on asphalt and concrete, lungs churning, arms pumping, the sizzle of electricity running and dancing in circles around Sun as Riley visits. 

"We will protect them all," Sun pants in the spaces between long, loping strides. Mun glances at her, nodding agreement, before he redoubles his pace, hitting a second wind and fighting to stay at least one stride ahead of the Terminator nearly overtaking him. 

Combat is not Riley's way of being. Neither is running hard until her heart pounds, either toward or away from danger. This, right here, being the center of social action, the center of light and music, in a dark place full of happy warm bodies, young lives finding joy and meaning in each other: this is Riley's way. Sun will protect them all with her fighting spirit. Riley will bring them all together and give them time, and a spark, and songs and stories to help them heal, maybe even heal the world.

"Glaceon, let's kick this up a notch. Use Celebrate on the drop."

Riley faces into the crowd, her smile wide and bright. The dance mix escalates and intensifies. Colours explode around the stage, into the crowd, and as one, the crowd cheers.


	8. In Plain Sight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: Brief mention of torture, but not descriptions of it occurring in any detail.

Water is everywhere. Wolfgang thought this when he lived in Berlin, where frequent rain and the familiar lapping of the Spree River meant omnipresent puddles in the gutters and storm drains, and where bath houses were some of his favourite spots to unwind. London, though... water truly is everywhere, here. The sky weighs down oppressively overhead, its burden of rain and fog always looming and often falling. The Thames is wide and winding; the ocean is near enough to hear gulls during walks near the shipyards. Every pair of hands carries an umbrella; every shop has a wide awning to shelter from downpours; every set of tyres kicks up a spray of muddy street water onto the pavement.

It is not Berlin, but it is a city all but drowning at all times, and as a result, Wolfgang loves it, and so does his Vaporeon, who can disappear into even the smallest puddles, the slenderest of currents, invisibly keeping a watchful eye over her partner. Wolfgang has never bothered to use a pokeball on her. Sure, he could afford it, but he prefers for things to work this way, his unseen companion ready to spring forward and help him fight, or equally able to escape without drawing the attention of pursuers. Many times in their youth, Vaporeon and Wolfgang would split up to draw danger away from Felix and Klefki, and just as Wolfgang led their enemies into position, Vaporeon would flank them from a puddle and take them down with Scald or Hydro Pump.

Eevee is a species native to western Europe, an urban pokemon thriving alongside alley cats and pigeons, starlings and rats. Maybe, elsewhere in the world, it's rare, but to Wolfgang, Eevee is the very incarnation of street savvy, of thuggish commonality, of blending into a crowd without drawing attention. Wolfgang's Eevee was rescued from abuse at the hands of the same boys who bullied Felix as a child. Wolfgang never had any patience for bullies.

What Wolfgang did have, by the time he was eighteen, was a budding set of safecracking skills. The first high-profile safe he ever unlocked with no help at all, contained a Water Stone. The safe itself was incredibly difficult to get to, because it had been hidden in plain sight at the bottom of a swimming pool in a private penthouse, carved into the mosaic tile of the deep end. Wolfgang was already an avid swimmer, already in love with water, surrounding himself with it every chance he got. It felt like fate was smiling on him and Eevee... if Wolfgang believed in fate, which he doesn't, if you ask him. The safe was on a timer, with only a few seconds to spare between swimming down to it and unlocking it successfully. The Water Stone was the only object inside it, but Wolfgang didn't know the specifics before opening it, only that a "waterproof treasure of unparalleled value" was contained within it. 

Where Eevee is altogether common on Berlin streets, Vaporeon is a status symbol, because Water Stones are a status symbol. The only Water Stones on the planet are obtained from strictly controlled, watchfully guarded mines in a handful of key war zones and impoverished countries. A Water Stone is more valuable than a flawless diamond of similar size, and unlike a diamond, a Water Stone disappears after one use, its radioactive mineral composition being dissolved into the evolving body of the pokemon who uses it. It is generally understood that, short of being a multi-billionaire, one does not purchase Water Stones... one steals them, usually from people who, themselves, stole them. There is an underground network that exists almost solely to fence evolutionary stones deeper into the black market, because each one is so distinctly recognisable that to be caught with a stolen one is to be turned over directly to the very powerful and dangerous original owner.

This means that to have a Vaporeon is to spit in the face of the wealthiest dozen people in the world, and to visibly declare oneself a high-level participant in organised crime... maybe even the head or main enforcer of a major crime family. It was never mere coincidence that Sebastian and Lila targeted Wolfgang with their attention, their distrust, their attempt at forming an alliance: Wolfgang's Vaporeon, purely by existing as the species of pokemon she is, was proof that Wolfgang is a dangerous man to cross and a useful man to befriend... maybe even a kingmaker. Maybe even a king.

Right now, Vaporeon is curled up transparently in a deep industrial-size washbasin in an examination room, her eyes glowing as Espeon watches through her as Wolfgang cleans up from his latest session with Whispers and Jonas. Nomi coordinated a fake quarantine on this entire section of a London hospital, and Bug coordinated messages to various health agencies and authorities in London, so that each thinks the others are taking care of the problem, while in fact nobody at all is visiting this cordoned section of the building. Periodically, Lito and Daniela suit up in HazMat suits, carrying clipboards and pushing wheeled, covered carts full of drugs, supplies, and meals for Wolfgang and his captives. As long as the hospital security team sees "official" people entering and leaving, nobody on the outside suspects anything, and the hospital chief of staff is desperate to keep the media from hearing about a supposed outbreak within his facility, so he's keeping everything hush, without any need for Nomi and Bug to obstruct the travel of information. 

Wolfgang walks toward Vaporeon and strokes her warm, scaly flank. 

"Lito is bringing us pizza today, my jewel. I can already smell it, now that the blockers are wearing off."

From where Kala is watching through Espeon's psychic powers, she is unsure if Wolfgang is addressing her, or Vaporeon. She feels the tickle of Wolfgang's humour in the back of her mind as the psycellium opens up to accommodate his return to their connection, and she realises he was addressing both of them, and knows she is watching. 

Caught in the act of snooping, Kala visits Wolfgang, sitting on the counter top next to the sink and breathing deeply the smell of veggie lovers' pizza as Lito and Dani wheel the cart around the door. 

"Have we learned anything from either of them yet?" Kala asks Wolfgang, who is watching Vaporeon rub noses with the Leafeon that just let itself out of a pokeball hidden in Lito's HazMat suit pocket. 

"Oh, yes," Wolfgang says, a predatory gleam in his eye. "Lila's entire cluster's identities, for example, and a headcount for how many people inside BPO were working directly on Whispers' brain-hacking project. The names of several of the investors who are funding it while knowing exactly what it is. The names of several who think they're funding something much more benign, and who may be swayed to our side if they are told the truth."

"Are you... are you planning to kill them?" Daniela's voice shakes slightly. All this violence is no more natural to her than it is to Kala, and Lito puts a hand on her shoulder, comforting on Kala's behalf.

"No," Wolfgang says curtly, and Kala says at the same instant, with relief. Espeon's Future Sight had already told her as much. Wolfgang explains, "Not without buy-in from the cluster. I want to, obviously, but capturing them was a team effort, and as long as they may be useful for bargaining chips, or if there's any chance Will, Sun, and Nomi can come up with a way to leverage their continued existence in our favour... no, they will live."

"That is very circumspect of you," Kala says. Good behaviour is to be praised, she believes, and it is good for an impulsive and violent man like Wolfgang to continue practicing cautious decision-making activities like this. It gives her hope that in the future, if and when this BPO business blows over, there can be a peaceful life between Kala and Wolfgang, instead of a perpetual combative tension between her pacifism and his aggression.

"Yes, well, I have good teachers." Wolfgang smiles at Kala, his expression softening. Daniela clears her throat, wanting to say something, but afraid.

"Go ahead," Lito says, around a mouthful of pizza. "You're in this, too, even if you're not a sensate. Our danger is dangerous for you, too. You have a right to say what's on your mind."

"I just... um. Have you been torturing them? I'm trying to deal with all this, when I don't really know all of you very well, and it seems hard to believe that the really nice ones like Capheus and Kala would be on board for that happening. I saw what happened to Lito when this Whispers guy hurt you all, so I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it. I'm just wondering if there's... y'know... another way?"

Wolfgang's manner turns more solemn; Kala can see he is taking Daniela's questions seriously, and wants to give a good answer to this person he has helped protect, and who has been so good to his cluster already.

"Some of it, initially, definitely constituted torture. I only used methods that I myself have survived at the hands of people almost as bad as Whispers; Water type pokemon are remarkably versatile at nonlethally inflicting large amounts of pain and fear... waterboarding, dripping water torture, scalding and freezing within temperature ranges that hurt but don't cause tissue damage. Vaporeon is wrathful and vindictive, and she expresses that in creative ways, with little need for me to prompt her. Some of it, there can be no doubt, was simply exacting vengeance upon these men on behalf of everyone they have ever hurt. But that was only the beginning, enough to make sure that anybody watching them through sensate visitation would immediately experience that fear, pain, and sense of danger. We needed to broadcast to anybody listening in, that we are not to be trifled with, and that we will come for anybody who targets us. Once we got that point across, we moved onto more productive activities. The truth is... torture is not a useful way to obtain information. If a man can resist torture, then he will never tell you anything useful at all. If a man breaks under torture, then he will give you large amounts of useless information, because he is trying so desperately to make the pain stop that he'll say whatever he thinks you want to hear, including false statements."

"Then what have you been doing?" Daniela's eyes are wide.

"Much the same as what Whispers was doing to me, when he wasn't torturing me and the cluster outright. Unfortunately for Whispers, he never practiced against his own techniques, and he'd never had them used on him before, either. His partner pokemon is Hypno, you see. He has it hypnotise, inflict nightmares, eat dreams, and apply the kind of psychic pressure that results in the victim unthinkingly surrendering large amounts of useful information. Nomi lent me the skills of her Gengar and Alakazam, and Detective Mun's Delcatty also has Charm and Captivate, which keep Whispers so fixated and disoriented that he can't use his usual verbal trickery to hit back and try to get information out of the person questioning him. We've been working in pairs, mostly: Lito backing me up, then Mun backing up Will, since Umbreon is also invaluable, with her Confuse Ray ability."

"Wow. You guys put a lot more thought into this than I was expecting, but that makes me feel a lot better about what's going on. I guess I'm just glad nobody's pulling teeth and breaking fingers around here. Even with our lives on the line, it feels like it would be too easy to turn into the Bad Guys, if we went down that path."

"I understand and appreciate your concerns, Daniela," Wolfgang tells her, "but you need not worry about my moral compass. While it is true my conscience is out to lunch most days, Kala is like Jiminy Cricket on Pinocchio's shoulder. She keeps me honest." 

Kala laughs sharply, and so does Lito.

"Alright, alright," Wolfgang laughs, as well, "so maybe I'm just a horrible liar, and that is what actually keeps me honest... but Kala keeps me from crossing a line so far that it would take all of the rest of you down with me. That is how this cluster works: I focus on keeping us relatively safe and alive, and the ethical and gentle ones keep us relatively moral."

"Thanks," Dani says. "That makes me feel a lot better about everything."

"Of course. Thank you for the pizza." 

Kala and Lito watch Wolfgang and his Vaporeon, while trying not to seem like they're watching too closely. For the first time in weeks, the two partners seem truly relaxed, maybe even happy in their own restless way. They now know more about their enemies, than their enemies know about them. They've cracked Whispers like cracking a safe, and the wealth of information that came forth is just as invaluable as the glowing blue shard of stone, priceless beyond comprehension, that marked the beginning of their journey to this point.


End file.
